Above the mage

Chapter 403 Water Pirates and Floods

As soon as you fall into the water, a bone-chilling cold hits you, penetrating your clothes and piercing your skin.

However, this doesn't affect Gaode Maps.

Even the extreme cold of the North couldn't harm him, let alone this low temperature.

What truly troubled Gaode was that the rapid current and its tremendous impact made his body as erratic as a falling leaf, difficult to control, constantly bobbing up and down in the surging waves.

The icy water was being poured into his mouth and nose, and he could easily choke if he wasn't careful.

Gao De immediately held his breath.

On the other side, Tuanzi was holding tightly to the small boat that had already capsized.

Although its body was violently shaking in the water, it was, after all, a creature endowed with extraordinary ley lines, and it never made the small boat shake in the slightest, preventing it from being washed away.

Besides the icy cold water, there was also a lot of debris swept up by the whirlwind, broken branches and shattered planks, which crashed through the water like projectiles, narrowly missing Gao De and almost cutting him.

Fortunately, Gao De reacted quickly enough, immediately casting [Blade Protection+] to enhance his defense and protect him from the impact of these debris.

Then, a tough and elastic webbed foot grew between his toes.

【Ocean Touch+】

With his exceptional sensitivity to water currents, Gao De managed to regain his footing amidst the chaos and resurface.

At this moment, he glanced at the dumplings and the overturned boat beside him and quickly began to make plans in his mind.

It would be difficult to right the small boat by oneself and the dough alone without a foothold; the force of the current must be used.

Gao De carefully observed the direction of the water flow and, with his keen sense of perception, quickly noticed a slanting undercurrent rushing towards him.

He was overjoyed, took a deep breath, and dived into the water, gripping the edge of the small boat tightly with both hands.

Meanwhile, Gaode quietly sensed the ripples of the water flow.

Just as the undercurrent was about to hit the small boat, he and Tuanzi exerted their strength at the same time, using the reaction force generated by the water hitting the boat, combined with their own strength, to lift it up sharply, while Tuanzi pulled the boat with all his might on the other side.

With their combined efforts and the force of the undercurrent, the small boat flipped at a great angle, successfully righted itself, and floated on the water again.

Gao De quickly climbed onto the boat and exhaled a slight breath of stale air.

No wonder the disaster relief mission was assigned to the Sea Sentinel Mage. Just that incident, let alone ordinary people, even ordinary mages would probably have suffered serious injuries.

While mages possess extraordinary power, even low-level mages face extremely limited strength against this level of natural disaster.

Before even seeing the person, they've already drowned. This isn't rescue work; it's suicide.

In fact, of the two routes, both land and water, not to mention first-level mages, even most second-level mages choose the land route.

Their extensive experience taught them that after such a massive cyclone, the waterways in the Auckland area were too turbulent to navigate easily.

However, compared to land routes, the advantage of water routes is that the journey is shorter and the time to reach the disaster area is faster.

If all goes well, traveling by water will be almost half a day faster than traveling by land to reach the disaster area.

In such urgent rescue missions, the difference between arriving half a day early and half a day late can be significant.

Every night, by the hour, the death rate among people in the disaster area could rise by several percentage points.

Moreover, from a utilitarian perspective, the military merit gained from arriving half a day earlier is something that later arrivals can hardly match.

Back on the boat, the small vessel continued to rock incessantly with the swift current, threatening to capsize again at any moment.

Gao De remained calm. With his swimming skills and the help of the dumpling, he was unlikely to drown.

So what if we capsize again?

He was in a good mood and took out a map of the Auckland area from his pocket.

Both the rescue guide and the map were made of waterproof materials, so even though Gaode had just fallen into the water, both documents remained intact.

After confirming his destination using the map and determining the direction using the [Northward Direction] technique, Gao De pointed north and said, "Tuanzi, go this way."

Tuanzi shook its head, pulled the small boat, and carried Gaode back into the rain.

In the rain.

On the shore, a sheepskin raft bobbed up and down with the turbulent current.

Two men wearing wool cloaks stood on the bank, looking back and forth into the water.

The rain poured down.

Wool cloaks are not waterproof on their own, but after being soaked in oil for a period of time, a protective film will form on the surface, thus giving them a certain degree of waterproofing.

However, its waterproof performance is limited, and in this level of torrential rain, the sheepskin cloak is somewhat inadequate.

Both of them were soaked to the bone by the rain and shivered from the cold.

"Brother, it's so cold, maybe we should just forget about it," one of the men said, his lips trembling.

"We can't give up. This is our only chance to turn our lives around." The other man, whose lips were also white from the cold, gritted his teeth and insisted.

"With this heavy rain, countless villages and towns are flooded. The wealthy people in those towns will definitely be the first to flee. This is the main road out of Dorne. If we can intercept one or two, then..."

The man's eyes hardened, and he made a throat-slitting gesture. "Kill them, and we'll be rich."

"The situation is so chaotic right now, with countless people swept into the water. If we stop the boats, loot all the money and valuables, and then throw the people back into the water, there's absolutely no chance of survival."

"If neither of us says anything, how will anyone know whether he was thrown in by me or swept into the water by the whirlwind?"

"But... Brother, this is murder!"

"So what?" The leader of the men looked resolute. "This is our chance. We came to the Golden Flower Dynasty with great difficulty, hoping to turn our lives around and live a better life. We have worked hard, but these locals still look down on us."

"It's one thing if they don't hire us, but they pay us much less for the same jobs than the locals. So why should we be polite to them?"

"After we pull off this heist and get the initial capital, we'll take advantage of the recent natural disaster to buy a few shops at low prices, and then we'll be our own bosses!" He became more and more excited as he spoke, and even the other person, who had initially been somewhat hesitant, began to have a gleam in his eyes.

"Big brother... is that... is that a person?!" Suddenly, he glanced downstream unconsciously, noticed something unusual, and shouted.

The older brother looked in the direction he was pointing, but with the fog and the torrential rain, it was impossible to see anything clearly.

"That's downstream. With this current, how could anyone come from there?" But he slapped his companion hard and cursed, "Don't fucking talk nonsense."

"Brother, it can't be wrong. You know I have naturally good eyesight. I really saw a ship coming from there!" His companion covered his head and insisted.

Seeing his insistence, the older brother also began to have some doubts.

"Did you see clearly?"

"Absolutely, there's a small boat coming up from there."

"Are you sure it's a small boat?"

Given the current and weather conditions, how could a small boat possibly navigate against the current?

"Yes, a small boat!"

After a while, a small black dot began to appear in the vision of the leading man.

His younger brother even noticed the number of people on the boat: "Boss, there's only one person on the boat! He looks very young, not like a fisherman."

Upon hearing this, the eldest brother quickly began brainstorming.

They weren't professional robbers after all; their abilities were limited, their eyesight wasn't sharp, and they didn't have enough numbers. They certainly wouldn't dare touch the big ship, so they could only target the small boats.

In the current situation, those who travel by small boat are either fishermen or small merchants fleeing from disaster.

The wealthy merchants must have been traveling on large ships.

His goal was clear: to target the small vendors.

If someone is traveling alone on a boat, and they are young, then they are definitely not a fisherman.

Based on this logic, it should be time to take action.

How could it come from downstream?

It's a bit strange.

Although he was tempted to steal, he also felt that something was amiss.

After thinking for a moment, he finally shook his head and made a wise decision: "Something's not right. Let him go, and we'll wait for other ships."

Caution is the boat.

"Big brother, that ship is coming this way!" But the next moment, the younger brother pointed into the distance and said in a trembling voice.

They decided to let the small boat go, but the small boat wouldn't let them go.

The older brother looked up and saw that the small black dot represented by the small boat was getting bigger and bigger in his line of sight.

It grew faster than expected.

What kind of boat is this? The water is so swift today, how can it still move at this speed?

The elder brother was completely puzzled, and also somewhat panicked.

What does it mean that the small boat is heading straight for me?

The older brother panicked, but the younger brother panicked even more.

"Big brother, the boat, the boat, the boat is here!"

"I know, I just don't have eyes as well as you, it's not that I don't have eyes," the older brother said irritably.

"And what about us?"

"Don't act rashly. See what he's here to do before deciding on your next move," the eldest brother said.

When the ship got a little closer.

"Big brother, a sea sentinel!!!" the underling suddenly shouted in terror.

"What sea sentinels?" The eldest brother hadn't reacted yet.

"That person on the ship is a Sea Sentinel Mage!"

"Huh?!" Upon hearing this, the eldest brother's expression changed instantly, and he quickly asked to confirm, "How did you know?!"

"He's wearing the uniform of a Sea Sentinel Mage, all blue with two bronze stars. There's no doubt about it, it's the uniform of a Sea Sentinel Mage!" the henchman affirmed.

"Big brother, let's run! If he finds out what we've done, he'll kill us!"

"What are you doing, running away like that!" The older brother, exasperated, smacked his younger brother on the head again and demanded fiercely, "What have we done? What have we done?"

"Hijacking a ship, killing people, and robbing them!" The underling covered his head, feeling extremely aggrieved.

"That's something we were planning to do, but we haven't done it yet!"

"Oh, right!" the younger brother exclaimed in sudden realization.

The older brother covered his forehead, utterly speechless.

Whoosh!

The small boat passed through the rain and, pulled by the dumpling, approached the shore and came to the sheepskin raft.

Gao De, dressed in a blue, fitted sea sentinel mage uniform with a waterproof whale stomach membrane lining, stood at the bow of the ship, where water droplets still slid off even in the torrential rain.

The waterproof properties made the two people, who were wearing sheepskin cloaks and whose lips had turned white from the cold, envious.

But it's just envy.

They all understand what this uniform represents.

"Master, please bow slightly and greet us."

"What are you two doing here in such a heavy downpour?" Gao De asked, his brows furrowed as he looked at the two of them.

The sound was emitted, but it was swallowed up by the sound of the downpour and was no longer very clear.

However, due to their nervousness, fear, and guilt, both of them were highly focused and thus heard Gao De's words very clearly.

The man in the lead forced a smile and replied, "Sir, we are residents of a nearby town. This whirlwind brought torrential rain, and many towns upstream have been flooded. We thought we'd come here to check if anyone had been swept down from above and if so, perhaps we could help them."

Gao De looked at the two of them expressionlessly. "You two are quite kind-hearted, aren't you? Thinking of saving people in this terrible weather?"

"Of course, of course," the two said with "honest" expressions.

"Then what are you feeling guilty about?" Gao De suddenly became serious, his voice growing louder and piercing through the rain.

"ah?!"

"Do you think your lies can fool the mage?" Gao De said coldly.

The two men froze on the spot. The timid younger brother couldn't hold back any longer and immediately knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Please spare us, Your Excellency! We only had wicked intentions; we haven't even laid a hand on them yet!"

The older brother initially wanted to remain defiant, but seeing his younger brother kneel down immediately, his lips twitched. He was both angry and fearful, and finally chose to kneel down as well, begging for mercy:

"Master, we really haven't done anything yet. We just arrived. You're the first person we've encountered. Please, be magnanimous and let us go!"

"That's the truth," Gao De nodded slightly. "Before this natural disaster, the two of you wanted to add fuel to the fire. Even if I found out before you could do anything, you might escape death, but you can't escape punishment."

Upon hearing this, both of them trembled violently.

"Are you two from Tyrael?"

"No, no, but we've been in Tyrrell for over twenty years, and we're practically locals now," the older brother quickly asserted, emphasizing his own worth.

Gao De nodded slightly. "I just heard you say that many towns upstream have been flooded. Which towns specifically, and what is the situation?"

The man paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "Alho Town and Mahavi Town have both been flooded. The situation is dire. I heard that the cyclone destroyed some of the upstream dikes. The breaches, combined with the torrential rain and the aftershocks of the cyclone, have caused flooding in several towns, resulting in heavy casualties."

"I heard that the survivors in these towns are trapped in some higher-altitude areas."

Gao De frowned even more deeply.

The worst-case scenario has indeed occurred.

溃堤

"If I remember correctly, Tyrrell is a major grain-producing town. Every year, a large amount of grain produced is transported to Oakland by waterway, so there are many merchant ships in the town."

"You two must return to Tyrael immediately and inform the local officials to borrow boats from the merchants, assemble a fleet, and stand by to help evacuate the people," Gao De instructed the two men.

With the flood affecting several towns and so many victims, he certainly couldn't save them all by himself; he had to unite all available resources.

He thought for a moment, then grabbed their arms, his magic surging, and two [Tracking Marks] were branded onto their arms.

"This is a chance for you two to redeem yourselves. If you do this well, I might let bygones be bygones for your wicked thoughts."

"But if you dare to escape, with this tracking mark, I'll find you no matter what. I don't have time to bother you now, but I'll settle accounts with you after the disaster relief is over," he said calmly.

In this situation, we cannot trust people's hearts; we must provide sufficient deterrence.

Upon seeing the fleeting mark on their arms, the two dared not harbor any disloyalty and could only nod repeatedly, promising to deliver the message.

Gaode Maps will no longer waste your time.

Underwater, the dumpling wags its tail and accelerates.

The small boat continued upstream, heading towards the flood-stricken area.

He needed to ascertain the current situation and location of the survivors in the flood-affected towns.

(End of this chapter)